The process of asking your best friend to prom
by CaptainOfTheRainbowShip
Summary: Four-shot. The process of finding out who you are is never easy. Especially when you see your best friend as something more. Or, three times Arizona didn't go to the dance, and one time she went with Carina.
1. Freshman year

**A/N. Hello! This idea came to me in a dream I had a couple of weeks back. This story will span from Arizona's freshman year to her senior year. Each year will be a separate chapter. Also, this is an AU, so my imagination will go rampant on this one. ENJOY!**

 _ **FRESHMAN YEAR**_

Gangly limbs, short stature, nervous expressions. That's how you'd describe your average 15-year-old freshman. Arizona Robbins wasn't an exception to that image. At the age of 15, she still had her braces, needed glasses to not be a hazard to herself and others, and always wore her hair in a ponytail. It was just practical, nothing wrong with it according to her mother.

Today was the day she had been waiting for. Today was the day she would ascend into glorious young-adulthood, or she thought so at least. It was the first day of high school. Gone were the days of never being taken seriously because she was only a middle schooler, maybe people would actually start to listen to her for once. Only time would tell.

She clutched the map of the school in her hands, it would be disastrous for her to get lost on her first day here. Not only was she new to this high school, she was also new to the town. Her father was a marine, a colonel to be exact. This made her, and her brother Tim, army brats, never staying in one place longer than a year and a half. But her father was stationed permanently now. She was good at making friends, but seeing she had to leave them soon, she never made the effort to make any best friends. Unless you counted her brother, of course. He was always there for her, had taught her how to beat up a bully if they decided to start throwing punches around. He, and sometimes her father too, had taught her how to be a good man in a storm. How to stand up for her ideals and how to defend the ones she loved. Everybody always said how good of a quality it was.

Miraculously, she had made it to home room without getting lost along the way. She quickly put the map in her backpack and made her way into the room that was filling with kids her age. She looked around, scanning the room for a place to sit. She spotted a girl with red hair, sitting quietly at a desk near the front row. She made her way over there, having her mind made up.

"Hello, would you mind if I sit here?" Arizona said with a pleasant smile on her face, wringing her hands a bit. She was nervous of being turned down by the first person she had met in this little town.

The redhead looked up surprised for a small moment, but a big smile quickly grew on her face. "Of course, of course. Sit down. I was just a bit surprised you wanted to sit near the front. Normally, kids are piling in the back, determined to establish themselves as the 'cool kids'." She gestured for the blonde to sit down, looking at her with bright eyes. "My name is April Kepner. I've never seen you around before, have I? The majority of this class has been together since middle school."

The blonde's stomach tied itself in knots, how did she make friends with a group that had been together for years? She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw April looking at her with an expectant look, she hadn't answered the question. "Uhm… You haven't seen me around, no. I just moved here because my father is stationed in the next town over, we moved here over the summer."

April moved to respond but the teacher walked into the room asking for silence. "Sit with me at lunch," the redhead whispered quietly. "I'll give you the scoop on everyone in the class." Arizona didn't realise she had just made a friend for life.

The first half of the year passed without much difficulty, except for the worst meltdown Arizona had ever experienced, curtesy of her science teacher and her endless amount of quizzes, and yeah, she also hit a boy in the face. Arizona had grown closer to April, she would say she was a really good friend. She had made some more friends, but they weren't really nice to April, so she didn't hang out with them much. April had told her that she was bullied in middle school by a boy that was now a classmate. The same boy that Arizona had eventually hit.

It was just another unassuming Tuesday. Arizona had quickly run to the bathroom to pee before the bus left, leaving April at the entrance of the school. When she made her way back to her friend, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was the boy that had bullied April, shouting in her face while April was pressed into the wall, nowhere to escape. The boy made an intimidating step forward, but he didn't get any further than that.

"Hey!" Arizona called out, throwing her bag to the side and taking her jacket off along the way. "What do you think you're doing, you big sack of shit?!" She balled up her fist and didn't waver in her approach.

"Leave me be, Robbins" He drawled, without a care in the world. "We wouldn't want you to have a black eye to go with your two blue ones, do we?" He didn't notice the way her body was primed for attack, just waiting for a reason.

"I give you three seconds to get away from her before you have an eye that matches your soul." He just looked at her unimpressed, clearly not thinking she would actually do it. He took another step towards April, reeling back from the sudden pain in his right eye. The blonde had pulled back her fist and with a show of incredible power she had hit the bully in the right side of the face. He was too shocked to do anything but watch as Arizona collecting her things and pull April towards the bus by her elbow.

"You just hit a boy two times your size!" April hissed out, not having processed everything yet.

"That's what a good man in a storm does, April. Protecting friends and family." She didn't say that her fist throbbed like crazy.

She got a week of detention for it. It was so worth it, though.

Winter break wasn't anything special, she just hung out with Tim who had come back home for winter break. He was a senior in college, studying pre-med. He'd wanted to become a surgeon since before Arizona could remember. It was inspiring to see how hard Tim worked for it.

They visited grandparents, went out to do fun stuff. Ice skating, for example. It was a tradition. For the past ten years, the went ice skating and drank hot chocolate when they had tired themselves out.

When they had come back from winter break, there was a new face in their home room. The teacher introduced her as Carina, a new student who had moved from Italy with her mother and brother. She went to sit with a couple of girls in the back, the ones that were mean and thought they were amazing.

It was an interesting sight when Carina threw her drink towards one of those girls a week later during lunch. It seemed she was fed up with their big ego's and bitchy attitude. She came walking towards their table and sat down, grumbling about mean bitches and heads too big to properly fit through the door. When she had calmed down, she properly introduced herself and asked about the rumour that she heard that Arizona had punched a boy in the face. The blonde laughed and began telling the story.

Needless to say, friendship bloomed.

It was a week before winter break that Arizona had a sudden realisation. She was in her bedroom thinking about Carina and the way she had laughed when some stupid boy had slipped during gym trying to impress the girls, ultimately making a fool of himself. "I'm gay." She said it aloud, tasting it on her tongue. It felt right. This wasn't some huge realisation, she had subconsciously known for a long time. So, without any doubt, she made her way to the kitchen where her parents and brother where sitting, discussing parts of Tim's classes.

"I'm gay." She said it again and looked at her parents who were looking at her.

"We know darling," Her mother said with a sweet smile. "You're still the person we raised you to be and we won't love you any less for this. Though, try to be a little subtler when you come out to your grandparents, they're a little more conservative."

A couple of hours after dinner, she was laying in the grass with Tim at her side. They talked about unimportant things for a little while, but eventually Tim grew serious.

"Zona, dad and I taught you how to be a good man in a storm. We taught you how to defend yourself and your loved ones. I need you to promise me something Zona." He looked at her with watering eyes. "I need you to be yourself no matter what. I need you to come out for the incredible person you are." She hugged him fiercely and nodded her head against his chest.

The remaining months were all about the upcoming dance. Arizona didn't get the excitement. It was just a meeting of a bunch of sweating teenagers in overly decorated gymnasium. She shrugged when her friends asked about it and said she wasn't going. Tim was coming up for his birthday. They were going camping for the weekend and they were leaving as soon as the final bell let out on Friday. Her friends complained a bit while Arizona finished her math homework, trying to convince her to come to the dance. It stopped after one look though.

When the year was finally over, Arizona, April and Carina went to celebrate with burgers and milkshakes, at an 80's diner on the outskirts of town. Arizona was happy with her life. She had amazing parents and an even more amazing brother, she had the greatest friends she could wish for, and the boys in her class were now too scared to do anything against them, all fearing a dislocated jaw from the blonde's right hook. Yep, life was pretty great for Arizona.

 **A/N. Hope you enjoyed, leave a review with your thoughts and ideas as to who I should include in the story from Grey's. I'm not sure on that yet. Bye!**


	2. Sophomore year

**A/N. I'm baaaack. I have to admit, after episode seven I lost all my inspiration and motivation to write. But last night's episode lifted my spirits and given me hope for the future. I hope you enjoy this chapter**

The beginning of the following year brought a new addition to their class. A boy named Alex Karev had been held back a year so he was now in Arizona's class. He was a tough looking boy, and Arizona had thought he would sit with the 'cool kids' in the back. But he surprised everybody by sitting next to Arizona, who sat alone because April and Carina had been earlier than she was, causing them to sit together.

"Hi, I'm Arizona." Alex looked at her for a second but a grin spread on his face quickly.

"I know who you are, you're the one that packs a mean right hook. I'm Alex." They shook hands and Arizona grinned at him, she could see herself friends with this guy.

 **-/\\-**

After school, the blonde invited Carina and April over to her house. They planned on doing some homework and maybe watch a movie after. They were in the middle of their algebra homework when the blonde spoke up.

"So…" She began, the other girls looked up at her with curious eyes, not knowing why the blonde interrupted their difficult homework. "I need to tell you guys something, it's pretty big so I hope you're okay with it." Her friends' eyes turned concerned now, fearing the worst. "I'm gay." She said with a small smile, it felt really great to come out to her best friends.

Her friends just smiled at her, no longer concerned that something was wrong. "Of course, we are okay with you being gay Arizona, there's nothing wrong with it." Carina said with a reassuring grin on her face. "Plus, we've suspected it for a while now." April piped up, a cheeky grin on her face. After that, they just continued their stupid algebra homework.

 **-/\\-**

After she came out to the school, nothing really changed. Except for one thing, a girl named Callie started to flirt with her relentlessly. She was a junior and Alex had told her she was bisexual, not gay. She and Alex had become best bros, talking about everything including girls. They had a long good talk about Callie, about everyone she had been with and the two best friends concluded that Arizona would try to get Callie to be her girlfriend. The older girl was incredibly beautiful and seemed very nice, Arizona wanted to see where it would go. So, one afternoon after classes, she cornered Callie and asked her to go on a date with her. The dark-haired girl agreed with an easy grin.

 **-/\\-**

A couple of months into the semester, she asked Callie if they could come out to the school as a couple. They had been dating in secret for a while, because Callie's parents wouldn't exactly approve of them. Callie was terrified that she didn't have her parents' approval and kept coming up with excuses for not coming out. 'I just want our pink bubble to stay intact.' 'I want to keep you and our relationship to ourselves Zona.' Looking back, Arizona knew this was a massive red flag. But she was a young girl with her first girlfriend, and she didn't want to lose whatever they had. So, she stayed quiet.

The dates were amazing though. They did all the romantic things a cute young couple should do, and on one of the rare occasions when they went out in public for their date, an elderly couple commented on how they were so cute together. Callie had blushed red while Arizona thanked the couple for their compliment. They didn't go out in public after that.

Arizona was so caught up in Callie, that she neglected her friends out of school. They made a comment about it and Arizona felt so guilty that she spent three days straight with them out of school. Callie threw a fit about it, but Arizona pointed out that she didn't have to compromise about her seeing her friends when Callie didn't want to compromise about them coming out as a couple. She was ignored for the rest of the weekend.

 **-/\\-**

With two months left until Homecoming, she met with her friends at their favourite diner. She had barely slept and had red eyes from crying so much. She and Callie had had an argument again. They were becoming more frequent because Arizona felt that they should come out after being together for so long. Her friends always watched her with sympathetic looks and tried to distract her from her misery, even if it was for just a little while.

She sat next to Carina, across from Alex and April. Alex narrowed his eyes at her. "She made you cry. Again." It wasn't a question as much as a statement. He balled his fists. "I'm going to beat her up if she keeps doing this to you."

April gave him a sharp look but said nothing to reprimand him. "Arizona, you've got to admit that this relationship isn't exactly healthy for you." Of course Arizona knew this, she just didn't know how to stop this. She didn't want to break up with her girlfriend. She said nothing to her friends, she knew they were right.

"So…" The girl to her left began. "What do you want to order?" Carina smiled reassuringly at her and grabbed her hand under the table, squeezing it to comfort her. She had done this since the fights with Callie began, she never said anything to get Arizona to break up with Callie, she just was there to put the blonde back together after the Latina had broken her so carelessly.

"You know what I want to order. I'm a creature of habit, a cheeseburger with French fries and a banana milkshake." Her friends tried to contain the grimace as they heard her voice. It was raw and scratchy from crying all night. Carina just smiled brightly at her and secretly squeezed her hand again. "Then we're ready to order."

 **-/\\-**

Things with Callie settled down eventually. They were actually happy, they kissed and laughed together and Arizona even got to third base, she was quite proud of that. They didn't mention Homecoming or the possibility of them going together. Arizona had assumed in all her childish foolishness that they were going to go together. She got everything ready for the big night. She had also decided that she wanted to give her virginity to Callie. When she had told her friends, they looked sceptical and Alex had muttered 'Stockholm Syndrome' under his breath.

The day before Homecoming she had come bounding up to Callie and asked excitedly about the colour of her dress, so that the blonde could buy a matching corsage. Callie had looked at her as if she had grown another head. "We're not going to the dance together, what have given you the idea?"

Arizona had looked at her girlfriend incredulously. "Maybe the fact that we have been together for nearly seven months?"

Callie just shook her head. "We're not going together, Arizona. I'm going to go to the dance with Mark and that's final." And after that statement, she walked towards her friends. Not knowing that she just destroyed Arizona.

The blonde had refused to cry in front of the entire school. She could cry on the way home. She made her way out of the building and began her one hour long walk home. She didn't want to have to face her friends after this.

 **-/\\-**

When her mother had come to check on her the following morning, she didn't have to pretend she was sick. She had cried all night. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her nose was snotty. She felt miserable, and so her mother had kept her home for the day. She didn't say anything about the shredded dress in the corner of the room. Her phone laid on her bedside table, but she didn't pick up when her friends tried to call her. She wanted them to enjoy the dance, even though she felt miserable. April had scored a date with a nice boy in the grade above them. His name was Jackson and he had been really cute when he tried to ask her to the dance, he wasn't bad-looking either so April had eagerly accepted. Alex had asked his friend Izzie to the dance. Arizona didn't like her. Nobody could be so peppy and not be hiding something. Carina had decided to go alone, not because she hadn't been asked. On the contrary, she had been asked by at least two dozen guys. She had filled out over the course of the year and was even more beautiful than she had already been. She just didn't feel the need to go to the dance with some stupid boy that had certain expectations as to how the night should go.

It was 9:30 pm, half an hour since the dance had begun. Arizona was curled up on her bed, watching little honey boo boo, it was her guilty pleasure. There was a knock on her door and after a few second her mother's voice drifted into the room. "Arizona, your friend Carina is here to see you." The blonde sat up and looked at her mom confused, wasn't Carina supposed to be at the dance like all the other kids that hadn't had their hearts broken by their significant others?

Carina was in fact wearing her dress when she came into Arizona's room. The blonde's breath hitched, the Italian had never looked so beautiful as she did now.

"Why are you here?" Arizona asked. This time, she even cringed at her voice herself. It was almost gone from the tears and the lack of use over the last day.

"Well, April and I saw Callie together with that asshat Mark and we put two and two together. So, I came here to put you back together, as I have done for the last four months." There wasn't any contempt or anger when she said it, but the blonde still felt guilty about it. She went to apologise when Carina turned around. "Unzip me?" she asked quietly. Arizona stood from her bed and made her way over, more aware of her crush on the brunette than ever. She slowly unzipped the dress and sweetly caressed the skin it revealed. She felt Carina shiver softly and nearly kissed the brunette's shoulder. She refrained however. When the dress was entirely unzipped Carina slid out of it right in front of Arizona's eyes. The blonde stared at the prefect butt of her friend, but quickly turned around when she realised what she was doing. She grabbed a pair of sweats and one of her favourite sweaters to give to Carina. The Italian went into the bathroom to get rid of her make-up and change into the clothes Arizona had given her.

When she returned, Arizona had to swallow a couple of times to get rid of her dry mouth. Her sweater was big on the more petite girl and reached her mid-thigh. That wasn't the most shocking thing however. Carina had foregone the sweats and now, her amazing legs were on display. She crawled into bed with a grin on her face and snuggled into Arizona.

"Do you want to talk about, Zona?" The blonde shook her head no. She just wanted to go to sleep without crying, so that was what she did.

 **-/\\-**

The next day, it was Saturday and Arizona had decided to go to Callie's house. Her mother opened the door and gave the blond a look that suggested that she knew more than she let on, but she warmly greeted the blonde with a hug and told her Callie was in her room. She walked in without knocking and of course Callie was in bed with Mark. "Of course." She scoffed and steeled herself, she wasn't going to play nice anymore. "You're a toxic bitch, Callie." She saw a pair of eyebrows go up. "I wished I had never met you and let you make me miserable for the last six months. I wish I realised sooner that you would never come out to your parents. You're toxic to everyone around you, including Mark here. You know he's been in love with that freshman Lexie for the entire year now, and yet you keep taking advantage of him." She shot a quick look to the naked boy in her soon-to-be ex-girlfriend's bed, she knew she was right about him being in love with Lexie. "We're done. I hope you never find love again. You'll only make the other person miserable for as long as they're with you. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy." She walked out of the room and didn't turn around when she heard the indignant "Arizona!" behind her.

Carina was leaning on the hood of her car, having driven Arizona to the massive house that belonged to the Torres family. Arizona just motioned for her to get in the car and get as far away from here as possible. Her best friend just nodded and made her way around the car. Arizona was so glad this chapter of her life was over.

 **A/N. Hope you enjoyed, leave a review sharing your thoughts about Grey's or just life in general, the give me life. 'Till next time!**


	3. Junior year

**A/N. After a very long time I found out that something went wrong with posting, so here it is again. I hope you'll enjoy.**

Arizona had never been more aware of the raging hormones that acted out once puberty started rearing its' ugly head. It was nearly the end of summer, and the reason for the blonde's distraction was a simple one. Carina. In a bikini. Sunbathing.

After the whole debacle with Callie, Arizona found herself crushing even harder on her Italian friend. In addition, Carina had decidedly filled out over the course of the summer, no more gangly limbs and flat chest. Now, she had curves to die for. Amazing hips, and breasts that filled the bikini top she was currently wearing very well.

Arizona thanked the gods above she had put on her sunglasses, her best friend wouldn't know that the blonde was ogling her, a lot. The group was at April's home seeing as the redhead had a pool. The heat was stifling and at the time, Arizona was glad they could cool off in the pool. She hadn't added Carina in her equation.

So now, here she sat, in the deckchair. Gazing at her, not so innocent, crush. Alex was sat next to her, noticing the blatant stares the blonde was giving the Italian. The boy decided his best friend was lucky that Carina was sunbathing on a bed in the pool, ignorant as to what was going on.

All of a sudden, a plan formed in Alex's mind. Not a great one, mind you. But one that would give him something to laugh about. So, when Arizona was starting to make her way to the kitchen to get something to drink, Alex gave her a firm push to make sure she landed in the pool. As luck would have it, she landed on Carina, soaking not only herself, but the brunette also.

Once they were both standing on their feet again, standing in waist-deep water, they shared a heated look. Arizona could only think about how beautiful Carina looked. Her hair was dripping down her shoulders and the blonde couldn't help but let her eyes follow the droplets down the brunette's torso.

She stumbled, and Carina's hands quickly found her hips to stabilise them. The skin Carina was touching erupted with heat, and the blonde wasn't sure if she could keep herself from kissing the girl any longer.

The choice was made for her when Alex cannonballed into the pool, effectively ruining the moment. Arizona hadn't hated her friend as much as she did in that moment.

/ \

The blonde was in a bad place at the moment. She hadn't seen her brother in almost three months, but she really needed to talk to him. Her nervous energy levels had been off the chart, there were a couple of irritating seniors that had decided to pick on her for being gay and she had to refrain herself from hitting them in the face, her parents hadn't been happy with her when she hit a guy to defend April. And to top it all off, her crush had been asked out by so many guys, that it wasn't even funny anymore.

She was walking to her AP Biology class when it happened again. There was this one guy called Joe that just wouldn't stop harassing her every chance that he got.

The troll-sized boy tried to drive her into a corner, in an attempt to intimidate her.

"Robbins!" He called out. "If it isn't my favourite dyke."

She had to clench her jaw to keep from arguing back. Knowing it would only escalate the situation and that a fight wouldn't be far off. Her anger remained though, it even grew.

"Don't have anything to say?" He mocked. "Maybe I'll go get an answer from your little Italian friend then? She's probably just as much of a dyke as you are."

She saw red. She didn't think as she spun around, pulled her right fist back and connected with the boy's face so hard, a hard crack was heard across the entire corridor. He stumbled back with disbelief clear on his face. She gave him one last dirty look before continuing along her way to her class.

/ \

It was expected that she was called to the principal's office, she supposed. She had fought for the second time at school, and she had been warned the last time she knocked a guy out that it wouldn't be pretty. So here she sat, on a wooden bench outside of the principal's office, waiting for her parents to join her. As she was waiting, she was also texting with Carina.

 _Carina:_

 _So I heard you've been sent to the principal?_

 _AZ:_

 _Maybe. You know me, AZ the badass._

 _Carina:_

 _You, badass? Sure, let's go with that._

 _Carina:_

 _But I heard why you've knocked him down._

 _Carina:_

 _Thank you, Arizona :)_

She smiled slightly her phone. She heard some footsteps approach, so she quickly put her phone in the pocket of her jeans. When she looked up, she saw her mother with a raised eyebrow, making her way towards her. Her father was not far behind, his face expressionless.

"Do you want to explain yourself now, or do you want to do it when we're in the office?" Her mother asked her, giving her a chance to come clean before there was a punishment on the table.

"He's been harassing me since the beginning of the year, because I'm gay. Today he did it again, and I wouldn't have hit him if he hadn't threatened to go after Carina. I won't stand for someone harassing my friends, I won't."

Her mother knelt in front of her and grabbed her hands. "I will go in there and defend you to the death, Arizona. But this really has to stop, okay? I think it's a good idea for you to sign up for a gym, somewhere you can lose all that excess energy."

The teen nodded at her mom and gave her a quick hug. "Thanks mom, I love you."

They were called to the principal's office then, where the boy she'd hit sat with a pathetic look on his face, his parents were next to him. Arizona sat down in the chair between her parent, not minding the dirty looks the boy's parents were giving her.

"Okay then," Began the principal. "Shall we begin?"

/ \

"I can't believe you only got a week of detention, Robbins." She was walking to her English class with Alex the next day. "I mean, normally you'd be suspended or something."

To be honest, she also didn't expect to get off as lightly as she did. But the principal was very sympathetic to her cause, and he'd heard reports of numerous teachers that the boy was very bigoted and had bullied kids that were different from him, so it didn't surprise him. She was punished though, for hitting another student. She understood that she couldn't go unpunished, she deserved what she got. That didn't mean she liked it though. She had taken her mother's suggestion and had signed up for the gym and immediately signed up for the kickboxing classes. But because of her detentions, she had no choice but to start them next week.

Left, right, hook, jab. She had repeated this over and over for the last hour. She was now three months into her kickboxing lessons, and she had to say, they were working amazingly. She had calmed down a lot, she wasn't as hot-headed as she used to be, and she was really toned now. Her biceps were pretty impressive and she had the beginning of a six-pack going on. Alex had joined her after two weeks, so now they were workout buddies. Currently, he was holding the pads she was hitting, occasionally swiping at her so she had to dodge.

After a while they switched, Arizona now had the pads while Alex was practicing his striking combos.

Tonight, was the night of the competition they had signed up for, they both wanted to get some last-minute practise in. Alex was really good at kickboxing, they found out. The boy always had some natural affinity with physical activities, but he was already practicing with the adults one day a week.

After they finished their practice session, they grabbed something light to eat and went to relax in the lounge area.

"April, Jackson and Carina are coming to watch." Alex commented absentmindedly.

Arizona looked nervous for a minute, but quickly schooled her features. Her crush was coming to watch her fight? She hadn't even told April and Carina that she had joined kickboxing classes. They would probably think it was too violent, plus, she wanted something for herself for a while. Something that no one would know about, so she could do what she wanted without being judged.

"Back in ten minutes so we can wrap our hands?" she asked her best friend. He grunted his approval. She nodded and went to the dressing room so she could change into her gear. When she got to the dressing room, she grabbed her bag and fished out her sports bra and shorts. Quickly changing into them, she put her hair in a high and tight ponytail, ensuring it wouldn't fall out during her fight.

She was ready.

/ \

Looking back, she should've known she wasn't ready. Her opponent had been way taller than her and had been taking kickboxing classes way longer than Arizona. She had fought valiantly, giving her opponent hell. The other woman had a black eye, a split lip and a cut above her eyebrow. Also, a great assortment of bruises on her body. Arizona had the same, minus the black eye. And she had bruised ribs.

Alex still had his fight, but the blonde realised she really needed to get some ice for her ribs and left for the changing room prematurely.

Once there, she spat her mouth guard into its' container and sat down on one of the benches with a heavy sigh. Maybe next time she could win, when she'd had some more practice.

She was busy getting her gloves off when she heard the door open, her back was facing the door so she couldn't see who came in. She recognized the smell of vanilla and cinnamon though. She hung her head when she felt warm hands settling on her shoulders. She groaned a bit when the warmth loosened her muscles there.

"You didn't tell us that you were taking classes here." The soft voice announced with an Italian lilt to it.

Fingers began to gently massage the muscles in her shoulders and a small kiss was pressed to the back of her neck. She froze slightly, not knowing how to react to the fact that Carina might have feelings for her too. The presence behind her left and a couple of seconds later she felt a hand press a cold compress to her ribs. She hissed but didn't pull away from the cold.

"Thank you, Carina." She mumbled. The next she knew, Carina stood between her legs with a first aid kit next to her. She gently touched the cut on her lip before grabbing a wet tissue and wiping away most of the blood on her lip and her eyebrow.

It was one of the most intimate moments Arizona had encountered, the look Carina gave her was not an innocent one. A cool ointment was applied to her eyebrows and when she looked back up, Carina was standing incredibly close.

A kiss was pressed to her forehead. "I'll see you back downstairs."

/ \

She was at a party. Not voluntarily, mind you. But she was still there. She would be content just staying at home with a carton of ice cream and her Netflix que which had an embarrassing amount of nature documentaries in it. But April had come to her house with Jackson on her heels and ordered the blonde to get dressed. While the two lovebirds had sat on her couch downstairs, she had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans which made her butt look great and a tight white V-neck that displayed her, now very prominent, six-pack. Her hair had been styled to fall over her shoulder in a gentle wave and she had foregone her contacts, instead opting for her black framed glasses.

When she came downstairs, her friend was making out with her boyfriend. On her couch. Hers. So, she did what any good friend would do, and she threw the pillow she grabbed from the chair next to her. They immediately sprung apart with guilty looks in their faces. She grabbed her leather jacket from the back of a chair and motioned for them to go. If she was going to this stupid party, she wouldn't wait for her slowpoke friends.

So, now, here she was. Standing in the kitchen grabbing herself a beer. Maybe some alcohol would brighten her otherwise awful night. She had spotted Carina standing awfully close to the stupid redheaded senior. Not wanting to witness the girl she liked getting it on with someone else, she fled to the kitchen. But she didn't want to stay here long, there was way too much traffic going through here.

So, she grabbed her beer and a couple spare ones and went into the garden. Her jacket was laid out quickly and she sat down on it with her beers in a little row. Why was is so hard to get the girl you were in love with? She quickly downed her first beer, already grabbing her second.

By her fifth, she began to feel a little buzzed. She wasn't drunk, but there was this pleasantly light feeling flowing through her veins. She laid back in the grass, looking at the stars with a dopey grin on her face.

"They are beautiful, are they not?" Carina laid down next to her. The blonde hummed her approval and turned her head to look at the beautiful angel next to her.

Okay. So maybe she was more than a little buzzed. Or maybe it was because Carina was laid next to her instead of that stupid senior she was flirting with.

"They are, but some things are even more beautiful than the stars." She said while looking at the Italian girl next to her.

She mentally fist pumped when Carina turned red at her compliment.

"What do you want for yourself later, Arizona?"

The blonde thought about it. What did she want? "Well… I want to become a doctor, just like Tim."

The brunette grabbed her hand while shaking her head. "No Arizona, what do you want out of life? What will make you happy?"

Arizona squeezed their conjoined hands laying between the two of them.

"I want a family of my own. A beautiful, kind, amazing wife. Three little kids with tan skin, brown curly hair and blue eyes." She felt Carina's breath hitch beside her. "And I want to come home to my wife every night, and be able to kiss her with all the love I feel for her."

She rolled on her side and gave the beautiful girl beside her a kiss on her cheek.

"I'm gonna go now."

She quickly found April and told she was going to go home, hoping that she hadn't ruined her friendship with Carina just now.

/ \

After not having seen her brother for nearly half a year, she was glad that he was finally here again. She had missed him a lot and she could really use his advice right about now.

It was a week since the party, since the conversation where she basically admitted she wanted a future with Carina as her wife. The brunette had acted as if nothing had happened but Arizona couldn't take it anymore. All the tension, the intimate moments they seemed to be sharing lately. She needed the clarity more than anything.

So, after dinner, Arizona had pulled on her brother's sleeve like she had done when she was younger and motioned for the garden.

They both shrugged on their jackets and sat down on the bench swing. Arizona tucked her feet under her and snuggled into her brother's side, having missed the comfort he always seemed to give her.

"What's bothering you, little firecracker?" she snorted when she heard the nickname, not having been called that for quite a while.

"I'm in love with my best friend." She started. "And I think she has feelings for me too, seeing as we've had a lot of 'moments' the last couple of months."

He nodded along with her. "I sense a 'but' coming."

She pinched his side. "Don't interrupt my tragic love story. But yes, there is a 'but'. We had a moment like a week ago where I basically professed my love for her and now she's acting like nothing happened."

Tim hummed and squeezed the arm he had around her shoulders, offering his support.

"Have you tried to just face the music and tell her what you feel outright? Honesty is always the best policy."

He really did have a point there. But she was scared that she was rejected, she couldn't take it after being hurt by Callie so much. But she supposed she just needed to man up and tell her friend just how it was.

/ \

After two weeks of practicing the speech she was going to give Carina, she felt like she was ready to express her feelings for the girl. She dressed up extra nicely and even put in her dreaded contacts.

They had all agreed to hang out at Carina's house, but Arizona had decided to go earlier so she could profess her feelings for the Italian girl and maybe have some time for kisses, if she was lucky.

With a small spring in her step she made her way over to Carina's house. She was let in by Carina's little brother Andrew, who looked up to Arizona after she took that bully down. She gave him a quick sideways hug and walked up the stairs, stopping in front of Carina's door.

She knocked and after a muffled 'Come in!', she opened the door and grinned widely at the brunette.

The girl in question was lying on her stomach on her bed. In only a pair of shorts and a tank top, clearly not expecting visitors. She smiled brightly once she saw Arizona and stood from the bed to give her friend a warm hug.

They made small talk for a couple of minutes before Carina said something that made Arizona sick to her stomach.

"So, you know that prom and homecoming are in almost a month?" The blonde nodded, not knowing where this was going. "Well, I've been asked by Owen to go with him to prom." She squealed a bit, she frowned at the absentminded look on the blonde's face. "You know, Owen. The senior with the red hair."

Arizona did know Owen. The stupid redheaded senior from the party, the one that had been flirting with Carina. Yeah, she knew the guy.

Just as Arizona stood up, the door opened and April bounded in excitedly, clearly looking forward to the afternoon.

The bubbly redhead immediately felt the tension in the room and pursed her lips in an attempt to keep her mouth shut.

"Arizona, wha-?" Arizona couldn't even look at Carina as the brunette confusedly wanted to ask something.

"I- I just- I can't. I'm sorry." And with that she fled the room, and the house. Running the entire way home. She felt like she couldn't breathe.

/ \

The last month she had distanced herself from all her friends except for Alex. And that wasn't even her own choice. He just came barging into her room with a bottle of liquor and they had talked for hours. She confessed her feelings for Carina and how she felt she couldn't breathe every time she thought about the brunette with someone else. And in turn Alex told her that he was in love with Meredith Grey, his best friend from his old class. The girl with the perfect boyfriend. The hangover she had the previous day couldn't overshadow the relief she felt when she told someone other than her brother about her feelings.

Her newfound hermitage also had some advantages. Her grades had skyrocketed thanks to all the extra time she was able to put into her schoolwork. She was also able to train a lot more than she did before. She became stronger and faster than she was before, she was also put in advanced kick boxing classes when her skills improved rapidly.

April and Carina had desperately tried to talk to her, but she didn't have anything to say to Carina and she knew April would just tell the Italian girl anything the blonde would say to her.

And now, once again, it was the night of the dance. The dance that Carina was going to with Owen. She felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it. Tim had come home for the weekend, but the blonde hadn't come out of her room the entire day, opting to watch some of her documentaries in the Netflix cue.

She heard a knock on her door, and in came her brother. He looked at her with a look of pity but at the same time frustration. It was a weird look on her brother's face. He sat down at the foot of the bed and looked at her patiently.

She kept her mouth shut though, not wanting to talk about it.

"Okay. So, from what I've been able to piece together I conclude that Carina, the friend you have a crush on, is going to prom with a boy. Because of that, you've become a hermit completely disregarding all of your friends except for Alex. You can stop me if I'm wrong." He gave her exactly what she needed. Tough love.

"Goddammit Arizona! You're a Robbins! We don't quit, for goodness' sake." He was getting fired up now, she could see it in his eyes. "So, get your ass of your bed, put on some decent clothes and go get your girl!"

He was right. Of course, he was. She was acting like a damn child and that was not the way a Robbins was supposed to act.

She ushered her brother out of her room and quickly changed into a muscle shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. After she pulled on some shoes, she ran out of the door, knowing that Carina could be going to prom any minute now.

She was lucky enough that Carina lived near, but it was really unlucky that it was pouring rain when she came running out of her house.

She didn't mind it though, as she sprinted down the street. She didn't even notice the rain when she was only a couple of feet from Carina, and Owen, the guy on whose arm she was.

"Carina!" She screamed at the brunette. It didn't escape her notice how incredibly beautiful Carina once again looked in her dress.

The brunette looked confused from under the umbrella she was standing under. "Arizona? What are you doing here?" Owen tried to pull her to his car, but the Italian wasn't having it.

She pulled free from Owen's grasp and stepped away from him, right into the rain.

The blonde quickly approached her, standing only a few inches away from Carina. "Carina, you can't go to prom with him." Her fingers ached to push the wet hair back behind Carina's ear. "You can't because I'm so incredibly in love with you that it isn't even funny anymore. I want to kiss you until we lose our breath, I want you to take care of me when I get beat up after kick boxing, and I want to take care of you whenever you may need me. I just want to be with you. So, you can't go to prom with him."

The brunette looked at her in a way that made her insides flutter. "I love you too, Arizona. You big dummy. I've loved you since I met you."

Arizona cautiously placed her hands on Carina's hips, over her prom dress and leaned in to kiss her. The brunette met her halfway and kissing Carina was everything the blonde imagined it to be.

"Be my girlfriend?"

The ensuing kiss was all the consent she needed

 **A/N. I hope you enjoyed. Leave your thoughts in a review and until next time.**


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